The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

I'm a bit late to the Marie Kondo party but I finally got around to picking up a copy of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and thought I would share my thoughts...

The book is written by Japanese decluttering/organizational expert Marie Kondo who works as a 'tidying consultant' and has developed her own method for tidying and sorting possessions called 'The KonMarie Method' which basically involves holding each of your possessions and seeing how it makes you feel. If it 'sparks joy' you keep it, if not you throw it out.

The book wasn't what I was expecting at all. I was expecting it to be full of ideas to help you achieve tidiness and order but there was very little in it in the way of practical advice instead it offered more of an explanation of the KonMarie philosophy and way of thinking.

While I understand the theory behind her ideas I did feel that to execute them was a little extreme.  I don't like to waste money or buy unnecessary items but I do have plenty of things that don't make me feel joyous but are necessary (cleaning equipment for example). Some of her ideas seemed a little obsessive and/or kooky, I honestly have better things to do with my time than unpacking my bag and putting it's contents away every night and repacking it in the morning or drying off my bottles of shampoo and shower gel and putting them away in a cupboard after each use as she suggests.  (And let's not get into the whole business of socks having feelings...)

I'm not a fan of clutter and while I would say that I'm pretty good at discarding things I no longer need I do like to have things around me. I find it convenient to bulk shop. I have old tee shirts that are super soft and comfy that I like wearing around the house. In other words there are a lot of ideas that I disagree with in the book.

Overall, it was an interesting book to read but the method was too extreme for me and let's face it there is no way I'm ever going to chuck out all my toiletry and cosmetic samples!